Optical sensor apparatus and method capable of accurately determining motion/rotation of object having long shape and/or flexible form

ABSTRACT

A method of an optical sensor apparatus which is to be used with a controlling device arranged for controlling an object having a long shape and flexible form of a material, includes: using a light emitting circuit to generate and output a light ray to a surface of a portion of the object; sensing the light ray reflected from the surface for multiple times to generate multiple images; detecting at least one motion image in the generated multiple images; and, determining a motion, an offset, or a rotation angle of the object, which is controlled by the thread controlling device, according to the detected at least one motion image.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation application of U.S. application Ser.No. 17/213,247, filed on Mar. 26, 2021, which is a continuation-in-partof U.S. application Ser. No. 16/432,952, filed on Jun. 6, 2019, which isa continuation application of U.S. application Ser. No. 15/173,738,filed on Jun. 6, 2016. The contents of these applications areincorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to an optical sensing mechanism, and moreparticularly to an optical sensor apparatus and method.

2. Description of the Prior Art

Generally speaking, as for a user who is operating an electronic product(e.g., a user is pressingabutton of an electronic product), becausenowadays a metal dome is generally implemented in a button of a typicalelectronic product (particularly, a hand-held device), the principlethat a contact point switch of a metal dome is switched on when a buttonis pressed and the contact point switch of the metal dome is notswitched on when the button is pressed is used for determining whether auser presses a button. However, a metal dome has a service life issue.After a metal dome has been used for a period of time, it is easilyfound that even though a button has been actually pressed, the contactpoint switch of the metal dome in the button still stays in anon-conducting state, thus making a corresponding function not beactivated. The main reason of this situation is the oxidation of thecontact point switch of the metal dome. With the increase of use time,the oxidation issue of the contact point switch will be more serious,and the probability of button function failure will be higher.Furthermore, as for a user who is operating a watch crown of a typicalwatch device, the watch crown of the typical watch device employs amechanical means controlled by gear wheels, and gear wheels may bedamaged under a long-term use to cause a low precision issue for user'scontrol. Therefore, it is important to develop an identificationmechanism which can identify user's operating behavior when the user isoperating a button of an electronic device or a watch crown of a watchdevice, and can still offer high precision after a long-term use.

Further, in different products, a conventional scheme may use a physicalmachine such as a motor unit or a bearing shaft to move an object havinga long shape and a flexible form of a material, e.g. threads, tubes,wires, etc. However, for the wires or threads, skipped stitches mayfrequently occur due to the physical machine, and in the conventionalscheme a user or an operator needs to check if skipped stitches occur byeyes. This wastes more time and cannot effectively solve the problem. Inaddition, in medical applications, a person such as a surgeon orphysician needs more accurately moving a medical material such as wire,thread, tube, etc., if the person performs a surgery or a medicalexamination for a patient. However, the conventional scheme cannotprovide a solution of more accurately moving a medical material.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Therefore one of the objectives of the instant application is to providean optical sensor apparatus and method capable of accurately determiningmotion/rotation of object having long shape and/or flexible form, tosolve the above-mentioned problems.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, an electronicapparatus is disclosed. The electronic apparatus includes a structureand an optical navigation circuit. A first end of the structure islocated inside the electronic apparatus, and a second end of thestructure corresponds to a control of a user. The structure can be movedforward/backward in a specific direction or rotated in another specificdirection. The optical navigation circuit is configured to capturereflection of alight emitting to the structure to detect at least onedisplacement of the surface image in a direction of at least onespecific axis of the structure, and determine an operation of the useras performing specific behavior according to a change of the detected atleast one displacement.

The electronic apparatus is an optical mouse device, and the structureis configured to realize at least one of a button function and afunction of locking/unlocking a host screen. With regard to realizingthe button function, since it is unlike the prior art design that isbased on whether a contact point switch of a metal dome is electricallyconductive to determine whether a user presses the external button, itcan avoid the loose contact issue caused by oxidation of the contactpoint after a long-term use. Compared to the prior art design, theproposed implementation using the optical sensing technology can offerhigher precision under a long-term use.

In addition, the electronic apparatus may be a rotary combination lockdevice, and the structure is configured to realize a password rotarydisc of the rotary combination lock device. The optical sensingtechnology is used for realizing an electronic locking/unlockingfunction.

In addition, the electronic apparatus maybe a wearable device. A secondend of the structure is configured to realize at least one of a buttonand a rotary disc for a user to operate the wearable device. The opticalsensing technology is used for realizing a button function and/or arotary disc function of a wearable device, or realizing a watch crownfunction of a smart watch. The optical sensing technology can offerhigher precision, and avoid a mechanical gear wear issue after along-term use.

Further, according to an embodiment, an optical sensor apparatus, whichis to be used with a controlling device arranged for controlling anobject having a long shape and flexible form of a material, isdisclosed. The apparatus comprises a light emitting circuit and asensing circuit. The light emitting circuit is used for generating andoutputting a light ray to a surface of a portion of the object. Thesensing circuit is coupled to the light emitting circuit, forcontrolling the light emitting circuit emitting the light ray, sensingthe light ray reflected from the surface for multiple times to generatemultiple images, detecting at least one motion image in the generatedmultiple images, and determining a motion, an offset, or a rotationangle of the object, which is controlled by the thread controllingdevice, according to the detected at least one motion image.

According to another embodiment, a method of an optical sensorapparatus, which is to be used with a controlling device arranged forcontrolling an object having a long shape and flexible form of amaterial, is disclosed. The method comprises: using a light emittingcircuit to generate and output a light ray to a surface of a portion ofthe object; sensing the light ray reflected from the surface formultiple times to generate multiple images; detecting at least onemotion image in the generated multiple images; and, determining amotion, an offset, or a rotation angle of the object, which iscontrolled by the thread controlling device, according to the detectedat least one motion image.

These and other objectives of the present invention will no doubt becomeobvious to those of ordinary skill in the art after reading thefollowing detailed description of the preferred embodiment that isillustrated in the various figures and drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1A is a diagram illustrating an electronic apparatus according toan embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 1B is a diagram illustrating a change result of state/spacelocation of the structure caused by user's different control.

FIG. 1C is a diagram illustrating another change result of state/spacelocation of the structure caused by user's different control.

FIG. 1D is a diagram illustrating another change result of state/spacelocation of the structure caused by user's different control.

FIG. 1E is a diagram illustrating another change result of state/spacelocation of the structure caused by user's different control.

FIG. 2A is a diagram illustrating an electronic apparatus with anexternal button according to the first embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 2B is a diagram illustrating the external button of the electronicapparatus pressed by a user according to the embodiment of FIG. 2A.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an embodiment of applying the conceptof the electronic apparatus shown in FIG. 1A to a smart watch device.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating the concept of realizing the structureby a roller element according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram of an optical sensor apparatus according to anembodiment of the invention.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of the controlling device using amotor unit to move the object OBJ.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of the optical sensor apparatusconfigured within the controlling device according to an embodiment ofthe invention.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of the controlling deviceaccording to an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an example of the controlling device used asa thread feeding machine according to an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a modification example of the controllingdevice used as a thread feeding machine according to an embodiment ofthe invention.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing another modification example of thecontrolling device used as a thread feeding machine according to anotherembodiment of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Please refer to FIG. 1A, which is a diagram illustrating an electronicapparatus 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention. Theelectronic apparatus 100 includes a structure 105 and an opticalnavigation circuit 110. The structure 105 can be move forward/backwardin a specific direction and/or can be rotated clockwise/counterclockwisein another specific direction. A first end 105A of the structure 105 islocated inside the electronic apparatus 100. A second end 105B of thestructure 105 corresponds to a user's control, and can be locatedoutside the electronic apparatus 100 (as shown in FIG. 1A) or can belocated inside the electronic apparatus 100. For example, when beinglocated inside the electronic apparatus 100, the second end 105B can beindirectly connected to a user interface (not shown in FIG. 1A) whichcan be used by a user to indirectly control the state of the structure105. Alternatively, when being located outside the structure 100, thesecond end 105B of the structure 105 may be directly controlled by auser. In addition, the surface of the structure 105 can be designed witha specific texture pattern or marked with a specific color symbol, so asto enable the optical navigation circuit 110 to more clearly locate asurface image and precisely measure the displacement of the surfaceimage. However, this is not intended to be a limitation of the presentinvention. Even though the surface of the structure 105 in anotherembodiment has no specific texture pattern or specific color symbol, theoptical navigation circuit 110 can also precisely detect displacement ofa surface image of the structure 105 by capturing a reflected light fromnormal surface texture of the structure 105. The triangular mark Δ inFIG. 1A represents a normal surface texture, a specific texture pattern,or a marked specific color symbol of the structure 105. In addition, theshape of the structure 105, in practice, may be an elongated structure,a column object, a needle object, and/or a rod object; however, theoutward appearance characteristics, including shape, length, width, etc.of the structure 105, are not intended to be limitations of the presentinvention. It is also possible to realize the function of the structure105 by using a circular structure, a square structure, etc.

To effectively illustrate a change of a state/spatial location of thestructure 105 that results from a user's control, a dotted line LN isdrawn in FIG. 1A to represent the spatial location of the structure 105in the electronic apparatus 100 when a user is not controlling thestructure 105. The dotted line LN can be regarded as a referencebaseline for illustrative purposes only; however, it should be notedthat, in practice, the dotted line is not required. Please refer to FIG.1B through FIG. 1E, which are diagrams illustrating different changeresults of the state/spatial location of the structure 105 caused byuser's different controls, respectively. As shown in FIG. 1B, a user canmake the structure 105 move toward the interior of the electronicapparatus 100 by directly or indirectly pushing the second end 105B ofthe structure 105. Hence, the first end 105A will pass the dotted lineLN, and the location of the triangular mark Δ that is representative ofthe surface texture will also change to have displacement. In addition,as shown in FIG. 1C, a user can make the structure 105 move toward theexterior of the electronic apparatus 100 by directly or indirectlypulling the second end 105B of the structure 105. Hence, the first end105A will leave the dotted line LN, and the location of the triangularmark Δ that is representative of the surface texture will also change tohave displacement. In addition, as shown in FIG. 1D and FIG. 1E, a usercan make the structure 105 itself rotate clockwise/counterclockwise bydirectly or indirectly rotating the second end 105B of the structure 105clockwise/counterclockwise. Hence, the location of the triangular mark Δthat is representative of the surface texture will have differentlocation changes and different displacement due to theclockwise/counterclockwise rotation.

Therefore, as mentioned above, a user can make the surface texture(e.g., a certain dot or a certain area) of the structure 105 havedisplacement in one direction or in multiple directions by pushingforward, pulling backward, twisting left/right (i.e., rotatingclockwise/counterclockwise), and/or other control ways (e.g., buttonpressing) . For example, in response to user's different controls, thetriangular mark Δ that is representative of the surface texture hasdifferent displacement amounts and different displacement directions.The optical navigation circuit 110 is located at a position nearby thestructure 105 without being connected to the structure 105 (however,this is not meant to be a limitation of the present invention), and theoptical navigation circuit 110 is configured to emit light upon thesurface of the structure 105, capture reflection of the emitted light,sense/receive a surface image (i.e., the triangular mark Arepresentative of the surface texture) of the structure 105, anddetect/determine at least one displacement of the surface image in adirection of at least one specific axis of the structure 105 accordingto the surface image. The optical navigation circuit 110 cancontinuously sense the reflection image resulting from the light emittedupon the structure 105 under a fixed angle or a fixed location of theoptical navigation circuit 110. The optical navigation circuit 110 candetect the displacement amount and displacement direction of the surfaceimage Δ, and can also detect a change of the displacement direction ofthe surface image A. Next, the optical navigation circuit 110 determinesthe user's operation as performing the specific operating behavior(i.e., judges what kind of operating behavior the user is performing)according to a change of the detected at least one displacement. Inpractice, the optical navigation circuit 110 can include an opticalsensor 1101 and a processing circuit 1102. The optical sensor 1101 isused for detecting the above-mentioned surface image Δ, and theprocessing circuit 1102 is used for calculating the displacement amountand the displacement direction of the surface image Δ and determiningthe operating behavior performed by a user. In addition, in anotherembodiment where the electronic apparatus 100 is connected to aprocessor of a host, the processing circuit 1102 can output thedisplacement amount and the displacement direction of the surface imageΔ to the processor of the host, so as to use the computation resource ofthe processor of the host to determine the operating behavior performedby a user. The effect of determining user's operating behavior accordingto displacement of the surface image Δ is equivalently achieved.

Therefore, through using the optical navigation circuit 110 to capturereflected light from the surface of the structure 105, the opticalnavigation circuit 110 can capture and sense the surface image Δ whenthe structure 105 moves forward/backward or rotatesclockwise/counterclockwise, and can detect at least one displacement(which includes an displacement amount and a displacement direction) ofthe surface image Δ in a direction of at least one specific axis of thestructure 105. Next, the optical navigation circuit 110 determines thatthe user's current operation makes the structure 105 be pushed forward,be pulled backward, be rotated, or have a combination of actionsmentioned above, and accordingly determines what kind ofoperating/controlling behavior the user is performing. As for theabove-mentioned example, the electronic apparatus 100 uses theoperations of the structure 105 and the optical navigation circuit 110to detect and determine that a user is currently performing a buttonpressing control, or the electronic apparatus 100 uses the operations ofthe structure 105 and the optical navigation circuit 110 to determinethat a user is currently performing a rotating control, and determinethe clockwise/counterclockwise rotation angle, an order of differentrotation angles, etc. Therefore, architecture and operation of theelectronic apparatus 100 shown in FIG. 1 can be applied to differenttechnology fields, such as an electronic apparatus with a buttonfunction for realizing a button pressing function or an electronicapparatus with a watch function for realizing a watch crown function. Itshould be noted that, the spirit of the present invention lies insensing displacement (which includes a displacement amount and adisplacement direction) of the surface image Δ of the structure 105 inat least one direction by using the optical navigation circuit 110 todetermine the operating/controlling behavior of a user operating theelectronic apparatus 100, and it is not limited to any specificapplication field. In addition, it should be noted that the processingcircuit 1102 of the present invention can be realized by a pure hardwarecircuit, a software program code, or a combination of hardware andsoftware.

For better understanding of the spirit and application of the presentinvention, the following discusses various embodiments that apply theconcept of the electronic apparatus 100 to different fields; however, itshould be noted that embodiments mentioned hereinafter are only forillustrative purposes, not limitations of the present invention.

In a first embodiment, the concept of the electronic apparatus 100 canbe applied to an electronic apparatus with a button function. Pleaserefer to FIG. 2A, which is a diagram illustrating an electronicapparatus 200 with an external button according to the first embodimentof the present invention. The electronic apparatus 200, for example, isa smart phone device, and the external button, for example, is thephysical button under the display panel of the smart phone device. Inother embodiments, the electronic apparatus 200 can also be a mousedevice with external buttons. The electronic apparatus 200 includes astructure 105, an optical navigation circuit 110, a flexible structure115, and an external button 120. If the concept of the electronicapparatus 100 is applied to an optical mouse device, the mechanism ofthe optical navigation circuit 110 can be combined with the opticalsensor originally installed in the optical mouse device, or can beimplemented using an extra optical sensor. In practice, the flexiblestructure 115 can be used as a buffer when a user presses the externalbutton 120, and the buffer can be realized by a dome which can be ametal dome with electrical conducting capability, or can be realized bya common dome without electrical conducting capability. However, this isnot intended to be a limitation of the present invention. The flexiblestructure 115 can also be realized by other flexible materials, such asa spring, a flexible button, etc. In other words, any one of a dome, ametal dome, a spring, and a flexible button can be used for realizingthe flexible structure 115 of the present invention. In addition, thedome 115 can be used as a basis of confirming whether a user presses theexternal button 120. When a user presses the external button 120 to makethe structure 105 move forward, the structure 105 will push/press thedome 115 to make the dome 115 have deformation that enables the contactpoint switch of the dome 115 to be electrically conductive. Hence, itcan be determined that the user currently presses the external button120. However, if a user releases/frees the external button 120 at thetime of still pressing the external button 120 to make the structure 105move backward, the structure 105 releases the dome 115 to make the dome115 recover to its original shape, such that the contact point switch ofthe dome 115 is no longer electrically conductive. Hence, it can bedetermined that the user currently releases the external button 120.

With regard to the realized structure, the first end 105A of thestructure 105 is located inside the electronic apparatus 100 andconnected to the dome 115, and the second end 105B of the structure 105corresponds to a user's control. For example, the second end 105B isconnected to the external button 120, and a user can indirectly controlthe state and/or spatial location of the structure 105 bypressing/releasing the external button 120. FIG. 2B is a diagramillustrating the external button 120 pressed by a user according to theembodiment of FIG. 2A. When a user presses the external button 120, astate of the structure 105 generates displacement. At this moment, thedome 115 is used as a buffer to thereby deform (the dome 115 will besimultaneously electrically conductive if the dome 115 has a contactpoint switch). Like the traditional mechanism, the electronic apparatus200 can detect whether a user presses the external button 120 bydetermining the electrical conduction state of the contact point switch.In addition, in order to avoid a loose contact situation of a contactpoint switch under a long-term use, the electronic apparatus 200preferably detects whether a user presses the external button 120 byusing the optical navigation circuit 110 to detect displacement of thesurface image Δ on the structure 105. When displacement of the sensedsurface image Δ is detected as moving along the central axis of thestructure 105 itself and moving toward the dome 115 and the amount ofthe displacement is larger than a specific threshold value (which isused for avoiding misjudgment), the optical navigation circuit 110 candetermine the user's operation as pressing the external button 120.However, considering a case where the operating state changes from thestate of FIG. 2B to the state of FIG. 2A, when displacement of thesensed surface image Δ is detected as moving along the central axis ofthe structure 105 and moving toward the external button 120 and theamount of the displacement is larger than the specific threshold value,the optical navigation circuit 110 can determine the user's operation asreleasing the external button 120. Therefore, the aforementionedoperation of using the optical navigation circuit 110 to sensedisplacement of the surface image Δ of the structure 105 to detectwhether a user presses the external button 120 may not need to refer towhether a contact point switch of the dome 115 is switched on.Therefore, even though the dome 115 has a loose contact situation causedby oxidation of the contact point after a long-term use, the loosecontact situation will not influence the precision of operation requiredfor the present invention to determine whether a user presses theexternal button 120.

In addition, the electronic apparatus 200 can continuously detectdisplacement of the surface image Δ on the structure 105 by using theoptical navigation circuit 110 to generate multiple displacementdetections of the surface image Δ at successive different time points,and determine whether a user presses the external button 120 bydetermining changes of directions of the multiple displacementdetections generated sequentially. For example, concerning twosuccessive displacement detections of the surface image Δ, the opticalnavigation circuit 110 can sense displacement of the surface image Δ tothereby detect first displacement and second displacement of thestructure 105 along the central axis. Next, the optical navigationcircuit 110 detects whether a user presses or releases the dome 115 viathe second end 105B of the structure (i.e., the optical navigationcircuit 110 can determine whether a user's operation results indeformation of the dome 115) according to whether the first displacementand the second displacement sequentially satisfy a specific displacementcondition. If the first displacement corresponds to forward movement ofthe structure 115 (i.e., movement toward the interior of the electronicapparatus 200) and the second displacement corresponds to backwardmovement of the structure 105 (i.e., movement in an opposite direction),that is to say, the first displacement and the second displacementsequentially correspond to two displacement amounts in oppositedirections along the central axis, and the order of the displacementshows that the structure 105 is determined as moving forward first andthen moving backward so as to make the dome 115 be pressed first andthen be released, the optical navigation circuit 110 can determine thatthe user presses the external button 120 and then immediately releasesthe external button 120. Hence, it can be determined that the user haspressed the external button 120 once. However, if the first displacementand the second displacement sequentially correspond to two displacementamounts in the same direction along the central axis and the directionis facing toward the dome 115, the optical navigation circuit 110 candetermine that the user keeps on pressing the external button 120.

In addition, in order to avoid misjudgment, when each of displacementamounts of the above-mentioned first displacement and seconddisplacement is smaller than a specific displacement amount, althoughthe optical navigation circuit 110 detected the first displacement andthe second displacement of the surface image Δ, it can selectivelydecide not to refer to the first displacement and the seconddisplacement to determine that the user presses or releases the externalbutton 120 (i.e., at the moment, it can selectively decide not to referto the first displacement and the second displacement to determinewhether the user's operation makes the dome 115 be pressed first andthen be released). In addition, most of the user's operations do nothave the behavior of pressing the button several times during anextremely short period of time. Therefore, in order to avoidmisjudgment, when each of the amounts of the above-mentioned first andsecond displacement is detected as being larger than the specificdisplacement amount for the first time (i.e., when it is detected that auser presses the external button 120 for the first time in a recentperiod of time), even though multiple displacement amounts are detectedduring a subsequent extremely short time interval, the opticalnavigation circuit 110 can also selectively temporarily stop referringto the displacement of the surface image Δ on the structure 105 todetermine a user's operation. Therefore, even though the flexiblestructure 115 of the present invention is realized by a flexiblematerial (e.g., a spring), the misjudgment resulting from multiplerebounds of the flexible material itself can be avoided.

Moreover, in another embodiment, the concept of the electronic apparatus100 can be applied to an electronic device with a watch crown function(e.g., a wearable device with a rod-shaped control end, a smart watchdevice, or a smart wristband with a rod-shaped control end). Pleaserefer to FIG. 3 , which is a diagram illustrating an embodiment ofapplying the concept of the electronic apparatus 100 shown in FIG. 1A toa smart watch device. The electronic apparatus 300 is a smart watchdevice whose interior includes the above-mentioned structure 105 andoptical navigation circuit 110 (represented with a dotted-line block).The second end 105B of the structure 105 is used as a graduated rotarydisc of a watch crown, and texture can be depicted on the second end105B to be convenient for a user to control. The user can rotate thestructure 105 along the central axis of the structure 105 via thegraduated rotary disc. As shown in FIG. 3 , the user can rotate thewatch crown (the second end 105B) clockwise, rotate the watch crown (thesecond end 105B) counterclockwise, push the watch crown (the second end105B) forward, and/or pull the watch crown (the second end 105B)backward to perform different controls. The different control behaviorcauses changes of state or spatial location of the structure 105, andthe location of the triangular mark Δ that represents the surfacetexture/image also changes to have displacement in at least onedirection. Through emitting light to the surface of the structure 105,the optical navigation circuit 110 can capture reflection of the light,sense/receive the surface image Δ of the structure 105, detect ordetermine at least one displacement of the surface image Δ in adirection of at least one specific axis (e.g., central axis and/ortransverse axis) of the structure 105. The optical navigation circuit110 can continuously sense reflection image (which results from thelight emitted to the structure 105) at a fixed angle or a fixed locationof the optical navigation circuit 110, detect an displacement amount anda displacement direction of the surface image Δ, and also detect achange of a displacement direction of the surface image Δ. As for atransverse axis of the structure 105, the optical navigation circuit 110can detect and determine a rotation amount and a rotation direction ofthe structure 105 after the structure 105 is rotated. Next, the opticalnavigation circuit 110 determines which specific operating behavior thatthe user has according to a change of the detected at least onedisplacement, and determines a movement change or an angle change causedby the user's specific operating behavior, such as a corresponding angleand direction of the structure 105 rotated by the user. Therefore,through realizing the structure 105 and the optical navigation circuit110 in the electronic apparatus 300 of a smart watch, it is effective toemploy the optical navigation sensing technique to detect and determineuser's operating behavior for a smart watch, such as determining thatthe user is currently adjusting the watch time, the user is currentlycontrolling a display range of a web page (if the smart watch iscurrently running a web browser application), the user is currentlyzooming a map (if the smart watch is currently running a mapapplication), and/or the user is currently controlling a display rangeof an email content (if the smart watch is currently running an emailapplication). It should be noted that, the different applicationsmentioned above are only for illustrating the notable benefits ofapplying the present invention to a wearable electronic apparatus with arod-shaped control end, and they are not intended to be limitations ofthe present invention. In addition, the operations of the structure 105and the optical navigation circuit 110 can realize a button function ofa wearable electronic device, or can realize a button function and arotary disc (e.g., a watch crown of a smart watch) function of awearable electronic device simultaneously.

Moreover, in yet another embodiment, the operations of the structure 105and the optical navigation circuit 110 can be applied to realizing acombination lock function, such as being applied to a mouse deviceand/or a combination lock device. Please refer to FIGS. 1A, 1D and 1Eagain. Taking a mouse device as an example, the second end 105B of thestructure 105 is depicted with different graduations having differentangles. When a user uses a mouse device to lock or unlock a screen of ahost screen, the user can, for example, rotate clockwise by 30graduations first and then rotate counterclockwise by 50 graduations tolock or unlock the screen. In response to the user's operation, thestructure 105 also rotates clockwise first and then rotatescounterclockwise. Therefore, the location of the surface image Δ hasdisplacement with different directions and different displacementamounts. The optical navigation circuit 110 calculates the changeddisplacement amount and displacement direction by sensing the locationof the surface image Δ, thereby determining the user's operation asrotating the structure 105 clockwise by 30 graduations first and thenrotating the structure 105 counterclockwise by 50 graduations. Hence, itis determined that the user currently attempts to use a mouse device tolock or unlock the screen of the host. As mentioned above, the operationof the structure 105 and the optical navigation circuit 110 can realizea button function of a mouse device or a function of locking/unlocking ascreen of a host,. That is, at least one of the functions can berealized.

Furthermore, taking a combination lock as an example, the second end105B of the structure 105 in FIG. 1A can be connected to a passwordrotary disc controlled and operated by a user. Similarly, the user canrotate the password rotary disc clockwise by A graduations first andthen rotate the password rotary disc counterclockwise by B graduations,so as to perform locking or unlocking. In response to the user'soperation, the structure 105 also rotates clockwise first and thenrotates counterclockwise. Therefore, the location of the surface image Δwill have displacement with different directions and differentdisplacement amounts. The optical navigation circuit 110 calculates thechanged displacement amount and displacement direction by sensing thelocation of the surface image Δ, thereby determining the user'soperation as rotating the structure 105 clockwise by A graduations firstand then rotating the structure 105 counterclockwise by B graduations.Hence, it is determined that the user currently attempts to performlocking or unlocking. A combination lock device can be applied to ananti-theft door lock, a rotary combination lock of a safe, etc. Itshould be noted that, the embodiments mentioned in the above paragraphsare only for illustrating that the operation of the structure 105 andthe optical navigation circuit 110 of the present invention can beapplied to different implementations, and they are not intended to belimitations of the present invention.

Moreover, in still yet another embodiment, the above-mentioned structurecan be realized by using a roller element. Please refer to FIG. 4 ,which is a diagram illustrating the concept of realizing the structure105 by a roller element according to an embodiment of the presentinvention. As shown in FIG. 4 , the electronic apparatus 400 includes astructure 105 that is realized by a roller element, and further includesthe above-mentioned optical navigation circuit 110. The roller element105 includes a wheel shaft 105C and a runner hub 105D. The wheel shaft105C passes through the runner hub 105D. The roller element 105corresponds to a user's control and therefore moves forward/backward,moves up/down, or makes the runner hub 105D rotate. For example, theelectronic apparatus 400, in practice, can be an optical mouse, and theroller element 105 can be a user-controllable roller on the opticalmouse. The first end 105A of the roller element 105 is located insidethe optical mouse, and the second end 105B of the roller corresponds toa user's control. A user can press the second end 105B of the rollerelement 105 to make the second end 105B move up/down, or can rotate theroller element 105 to make the runner hub 105D rotate. The opticalnavigation circuit 110 is used for detecting at least one displacementof a surface image on a wheel face of the runner hub 105D to determinedisplacement of the surface image in a direction of at least onespecific axis of the roller element 105. For example, the wheel face maybe at least one of a circumferential end surface of the runner hub 105Dand a wheel face in the direction of a radius of the runner hub 105D.That is to say, concerning the circumferential end surface, the opticalnavigation circuit 110 can detect, for example, the dotted-line area105F to measure displacement of the surface image on the circumferentialend surface, so as to determine a change of a rotation amount or achange of rotation angle caused by the user's specific operatingbehavior, such as a rotation amount and a rotation direction of theroller rotated by a user. In addition, concerning a wheel face in thedirection of the radius, the optical navigation circuit 110 can detect,for example, the dotted-line area 105E to measure displacement of thesurface image on the wheel face in the direction of the radius, so as todetermine a change of a rotation amount or a change of a rotation anglecaused by the user's specific operating behavior. In addition, theoptical navigation circuit 110 can also determine a change of anupward/downward movement amount and a movement direction of the rollerelement 105 caused by the user's specific operating behavior.

Further, the operation of capturing reflected light from a surfacetexture to precisely detect the displacement of the surface texture canbe applied into an object having a long shape and/or flexible form of amaterial so as to more accurately measure or estimate the behavior of auser controlling or using such object. For example, the material may bea thread. In addition, in other embodiments, the material may be amedical grade material, and the object is a thread, a wire, a tube, or acatheter made from the medical grade material. Such object can be avariety of kinds of objects having along shape and/or a flexible form.The material of the object mentioned above can have different colors ormay be transparent, translucent, or opaque.

FIG. 5 is a diagram of an optical sensor apparatus 500 according to anembodiment of the invention. The optical sensor apparatus 500 is to beused with a controlling device 505, which is controlled by a user or anoperator and is arranged for controlling an object OBJ having a longshape and/or a flexible form of a material. For example, the object OBJmay be a thread, a tube, a catheter, a wire, or other different objectshaving the long shape and/or the flexible form, etc. In addition, thematerial may be a medical grade material or other flexible materials.

The controlling device 505 comprises at least one input hole/terminal INfor receiving an end (i.e. a front end) of the object OBJ and at leastone output hole/terminal OUT for outputting the front end of such objectOBJ, and it can be used, controlled, or operated by a user or anoperator to move forward/backward the object (or the front end) and/orrotate such object (or the front end) with any angle(s) by using a motorunit (but not limited). The controlling device 505 for example may be athread controlling device such as a bearing shaft of a motor in anautomatic sewing machine or a printing device; however, this is notmeant to be a limitation. In medical applications, the controllingdevice 505 may be any medical therapy device ortest/examination/measurement device. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing anexample of the controlling device 505 using a motor unit 506 to move theobject OBJ. In addition, the user or operator may configure thecontrolling device 505 automatically move the object OBJ with a specificspeed or may manually control the controlling device 505 to move theobject OBJ.

It should be noted that the optical sensor apparatus 500 can be usedwith different kinds of controlling device 505 to precisely measure themovement, motion, rotation of the object OBJ (the front end or anyportion). Further, in other embodiments, the optical sensor apparatus500 can be configured or installed within the controlling device 500 todetect the movement, motion, and/or rotation angle of the object OBJ bydetecting the images generated by sensing reflected light from theobject's portion which is inside the controlling device 505. FIG. 7 is adiagram showing an example of the optical sensor apparatus 500configured within the controlling device 500 according to an embodimentof the invention. In FIG. 7 , the optical sensor apparatus 500 insidethe controlling device 500 can precisely calculate or estimate themovement, motion, and/or rotation angle of a portion of the object OBJoutside the controlling device 500 by detecting the motion change ofimage patterns in the capture images generated by the reflected lightfrom the surface of another portion of the object OBJ inside thecontrolling device 500.

In the above embodiments, the optical sensor apparatus 500 can bearranged to accurately detect/calculate the distance actually moved bythe controlling device 505 by detecting the patterns of the capturedimages generated by reflected lights from the surface of the object.Equivalently, the optical sensor apparatus 500 can detect the actual orreal-time moving speed of the object. In practice, the optical sensorapparatus 500 comprises a light emitting circuit 515 and a sensingcircuit 520 such as a processing circuit or a processor. The lightemitting circuit 515 is arranged for generating and outputting lightray(s) to at least one surface of at least one portion of the objectOBJ. The sensing circuit 520 is coupled to the light emitting circuit515, and it is used for controlling the light emitting circuit 515emitting the light ray(s), sensing the light ray(s) reflected from thesurface(s) for multiple times to generate multiple captured images,detecting at least one motion image in the generated multiple images,and determining a motion, an offset, or a rotation angle of the object,which is controlled by the controlling device 505, according to thedetected at least one motion image. For instance, this can beimplemented by detecting the motion(s) of the image pattern(s) in themotion image.

The sensing circuit 520 then outputs the determined/detected motion,offset, and/or rotation angle to the controlling device 505 so that theuser operating or controlling the controlling device 505 can know theprecisely estimated motion, offset, and/or rotation angle of such objectOBJ as well as can more accurately move and/or rotate the object OBJsuch as the thread, tube, catheter, or other objects. Also, outputtingthe determined/detected motion, offset, and/or rotation angle can makethe controlling device 505 control the object OBJ with a fine adjustmentbased on the determined/detected motion, offset, and/or rotation angle.In addition, the optical sensor apparatus 500 can communicate with thecontrolling device 505 via wired or wireless communication(s) totransmit the information of the determined/detected motion, offset,and/or rotation angle to the controlling device 505 and/or to receivespecific indication information from the controlling device 505.

Further, it should be noted that in other embodiments the light emittingcircuit 515 may be an optional circuit. For example, the light emittingcircuit 515 may be excluded from the optical sensor apparatus 500 if thelight emitting circuit 515 is not needed in a sufficient ambient lightcondition/environment.

In other embodiments, the above-mentioned operation can be applied intosurgery or any kinds of medical tests/examinations. For example, theabove-mentioned object OBJ having the long shape and the flexible formmay be a medical tube TF or medical thread (but not limited) and mayhave an end physically connected to a non-flexible material NF, and thesensing circuit 520 is arranged for determining a motion, an offset,and/or a rotation angle of the non-flexible material NF based on themotion, the offset, and/or the rotation angle of the medical tube TF orthread outside a person such as a patient. FIG. 8 is a diagram showingan example of the controlling device 505 according to an embodiment ofthe invention. In FIG. 8 , the medical device 800 may comprise thecontrolling device 505 of FIG. 7 , which comprises the optical sensorapparatus 500. The optical sensor apparatus 500 is arranged fordetermining the motion and/or rotation of a portion of medical tube TFwhich is inside the medical device 800 so as to accurately estimate orcalculate the motion and/or rotation of non-flexible material NF or themotion and/or rotation of the front end of medical tube TF which may beinside a person such as a patient; the non-flexible material NF forexample is the camera device (but not limited) which generates the videoto the video monitor for displaying the corresponding video for anmedical device operator such as a physician or a surgeon.

Further, in another embodiment or applications, the non-flexiblematerial NF may be a solid or sharp medical instrument device used forsurgery. Using the optical sensor apparatus 500 to more accuratelydetect/determine the motion/rotation of the non-flexible material NFsuch as an instrument device inside a patient can more safely protectthe patient. Thus, by doing so, a physician/doctor, nurse, practicingmedical person, or medical technologist can use or operate a medicaldevice integrating the detection operation/capability of optical sensorapparatus 500 to more accurately perform a medical examination/test upona person such as a patient or more accurately perform the surgeryoperation such an invasive surgery for such person. The examination/testmay be a health/medical examination or any kinds of endoscopyexaminations (such as gastroscopy/colonoscopy examination) in which theobject is a long and thin tube; however, this is not intended to be alimitation.

Further, in other embodiments, the operations of optical sensorapparatus can be applied into detecting the precise movements and/orrotations of threads which may be moved by an automatic thread feedingmachine such as a thread feeding machine of an automatic sewing machine(or embroidering machine) or a printing device, to more effectivelyavoid the occurrence of skipped stitches. FIG. 9 is a diagram showing anexample of the controlling device 505 used as a thread feeding machineaccording to an embodiment of the invention. In FIG. 9 , the controllingdevice 505 used as a thread feeding machine (e.g. a bearing shaft of amotor, but not limited) and can be arranged to receive, move, and feedone or multiple threads T1-TN simultaneously with different/identicalspeeds via multiple input holes and output holes. The threads T1-TN mayhave identical/different colors and/or may have identical/differentradiuses. For instance, the thread T1 has a first round cross-sectionwith a first radius, and a thread TN has a second round cross-sectionwith a second radius that is different from the first radius. However,this is not intended to be a limitation. The optical sensor apparatus500 in FIG. 9 can be arranged to respectively detecting the motions ofthe threads T1-TN. For example, the light emitting circuit 515 canrespectively and simultaneously emit light rays to surfaces of portionsof threads T1-TN, and the sensing circuit 520 can simultaneously sensethe reflected light rays to detect the motion of the image patterns inthe captured images generated based on the reflected light rays so as tocalculate or estimate the actual motions of the threads T1-TN. Forexample, the optical sensor apparatus 500 can determine the distance ofinches one or each thread is actually moved by the controlling device505.

Additionally, in other embodiments, the optical sensor apparatus 500 canbe installed within a thread feeding machine. FIG. 10 is a diagramshowing a modification example of the controlling device 505 used as athread feeding machine according to an embodiment of the invention.Further, in another embodiment, multiple optical sensor apparatuses 500can be used so that each optical sensor apparatus 500 can respectivelydetermine the motion/rotation of each corresponding thread. FIG. 11 is adiagram showing another modification example of the controlling device505 used as a thread feeding machine according to another embodiment ofthe invention.

Further, the sensing circuit 520of the optical sensor apparatus 500 canbe arranged for receiving an indication signal generated from thecontrolling device 505 such as a thread controlling device (but notlimited), and the indication signal indicates an adjustment of themotion, the offset, or the rotation angle of the object OBJ such as athread. The sensing circuit 520 then generates a response signal to thecontrolling device 505 to make the controlling device 520 stopcontrolling the thread when a motion, an offset, or a rotation angleindicated by the detected at least one motion image matches theadjustment indicated by the indication signal. That is, once themotion/rotation of the object OBJ matches an adjustment amount,specified or determined by the user or operator, the sensing circuit 520can generate a notification signal to the controlling device 505 toprovide a hint for the user or operator. In addition, a minimum diameterof the object OBJ such as a thread can be defined by an image resolutionof the optical sensor apparatus 500. The optical sensor apparatus 500with a higher image resolution can be used to precisely detect themotion/rotation of a thread having a shorter diameter.

Further, it should be noted that the above-mentioned optical sensorapparatus 500 can be arranged to detect or determine a motion, anoffset, or a rotation angle of a long-shape and non-flexible object inother embodiments. The operation is similarly to those mentioned aboveand is not detailed for brevity.

Those skilled in the art will readily observe that numerousmodifications and alterations of the device and method may be made whileretaining the teachings of the invention. Accordingly, the abovedisclosure should be construed as limited only by the metes and boundsof the appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. An optical sensor apparatus which is to be usedwith a controlling device arranged for controlling an object having along shape and flexible form of a material, comprising: a light emittingcircuit, for generating and outputting a light ray to a surface of aportion of the object; and a sensing circuit, coupled to the lightemitting circuit, for controlling the light emitting circuit emittingthe light ray, sensing the light ray reflected from the surface formultiple times to generate multiple images, detecting at least onemotion image in the generated multiple images, and determining a motion,an offset, or a rotation angle of the object, which is controlled by thethread controlling device, according to the detected at least one motionimage; wherein the object has an end physically connected to at leastone of a sensing device and an instrument device used for surgery, andthe sensing circuit is arranged for determining a motion, an offset, ora rotation angle of the at least one of the sensing device and theinstrument device based on the motion, the offset, or the rotation angleof the object.
 2. The optical sensor apparatus of claim 1, wherein thematerial is a medical grade material, and the object is a thread, awire, a tube, or a catheter made from the medical grade material.
 3. Theoptical sensor apparatus of claim 1, wherein the object is a thread. 4.The optical sensor apparatus of claim 3, wherein the controlling deviceis a thread controlling device, the thread has a first roundcross-section with a first radius, and the optical sensor apparatus isused with the thread controlling device, further arranged forcontrolling another thread having a flexible form of another material,to determining a motion, an offset, or a rotation angle of the anotherthread which has a second round cross-section with a second radiusdifferent from the first radius.
 5. The optical sensor apparatus ofclaim 3, wherein the sensing circuit is arranged for outputting thedetermined motion, the offset, or the rotation angle of the thread tothe controlling device to make the controlling device control the threadwith a fine adjustment based on the determined motion, the offset, orthe rotation angle.
 6. The optical sensor apparatus of claim 3, whereinthe sensing circuit is arranged for receiving an indication signalgenerated from the thread controlling device, and the indication signalindicates an adjustment of the motion, the offset, or the rotation angleof the thread; and, the sensing circuit is arranged for generating aresponse signal to the controlling device to make the controlling devicestop controlling the thread when a motion, a offset, or a rotation angleindicated by the detected at least one motion image matches theadjustment indicated by the indication signal.
 7. The optical sensorapparatus of claim 3, wherein the controlling device is a bearing shaftof a motor in an automatic sewing machine or a printing device.
 8. Theoptical sensor apparatus of claim 3, wherein a minimum diameter of thethread is defined by an image resolution of the optical sensorapparatus.
 9. A method of an optical sensor apparatus which is to beused with a controlling device arranged for controlling an object havingalong shape and flexible form of a material, comprising: using a lightemitting circuit to generate and output a light ray to a surface of aportion of the object; sensing the light ray reflected from the surfacefor multiple times to generate multiple images; detecting at least onemotion image in the generated multiple images; and determining a motion,an offset, or a rotation angle of the object, which is controlled by thethread controlling device, according to the detected at least one motionimage; wherein the object has an end physically connected to at leastone of a sensing device and an instrument device used for surgery, and amotion, an offset, or a rotation angle of the at least one of thesensing device and the instrument device used for surgery is determinedbased on the motion, the offset, or the rotation angle of the object.10. The method of claim 9, wherein the material is a medical gradematerial, and the object is a thread, a wire, a tube, or a catheter madefrom the medical grade material.
 11. The method of claim 9, wherein theobject is a thread.
 12. The method of claim 11, wherein the thread has afirst round cross-section with a first radius, and the method furthercomprises: controlling another thread having a flexible form of anothermaterial, to determining a motion, an offset, or a rotation angle of theanother thread which has a second round cross-section with a secondradius different from the first radius.
 13. The method of claim 11,further comprising: outputting the determined motion, the offset, or therotation angle of the thread to the controlling device to make thecontrolling device control the thread with a fine adjustment based onthe determined motion, the offset, or the rotation angle.
 14. The methodof claim 11, further comprising: receiving an indication signalgenerated from the thread controlling device wherein the indicationsignal indicates an adjustment of the motion, the offset, or therotation angle of the thread; and generating a response signal to thecontrolling device to make the controlling device stop controlling thethread when a motion, a offset, or a rotation angle indicated by thedetected at least one motion image matches the adjustment indicated bythe indication signal.
 15. The method of claim 11, wherein a minimumdiameter of the thread is defined by an image resolution of the opticalsensor apparatus.